It is widely recognized that years of unregulated industry have produced numerous environmentally hazardous sites throughout the country and the world which pose substantial health hazards to world's population. In recent years, efforts to clean up or remediate environmentally contaminated sites have increased dramatically, and numerous methods and devices for cleaning up or disposing of environmental contamination have been devised or proposed. However, the magnitude of the environmental problems is enormous, but the resources available to solve the problems are limited. Therefore, there is an urgent need for methods of remediation that are relatively uncomplicated, may be rapidly implemented, and are technically and cost effective.
Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide a cost effective, relatively rapid method of remediating environmentally contaminated sites.
It is another object of this invention to provide a highly mobile apparatus for remediating environmental contaminants.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide a method of remediating contaminated soil in situ and without removal or disposal of the treated or contaminated material.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide a method that is capable of remediating contaminated soils and sludges in a continuous, in contrast to a batchwise, manner.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide a remediation apparatus and method which may be used on highly unstable soils and in tight quarters such as in the basements of buildings or near above-ground or below-ground storage tanks.
The above objects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent when reference is made to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.